Health and Safety
by dinabar
Summary: After a week of fighting Leo is fed up with Harry and Nikki and takes matters into his own hands.
1. Chapter 1

**In my elusive quest to write a oneshot, I give you this… In my mind there is more to come; now I have Leo in a trouble making mood, it's hard to get him to stop. But this will do for now. Summer holidays are fast approaching so writing time rapidly diminishing but review and say nice things and maybe I'll get inspired to do the rest.**

**All Silent Witness Characters and situations belong to the BBC**

Health and Safety

"That's enough!" Leo's voice rang out, startling the rowing occupants of the conference room.

"Both of you, in my office!"

"Now!"

Leo's tone left no room for non-compliance and so mouths still open, and hands raised, they meekly followed him towards the office. He left them standing in front of his desk whilst he slowly and deliberately closed the blinds. There was no question about it; he was treating them like misbehaving school children. Nikki chewed her lip and Harry stared defiantly ahead; through Leo, through the wall and through the whole stupid week. He'd been here enough times in his life, standing, waiting for the judgement to be delivered and his punishment to be pronounced. But he was not going to apologise first this time, not this time, absolutely not.

"Who wants to go first?" asked Leo.

Harry remained staring not even acknowledging Leo's question.

Nikki flicked a look at Harry from the corner of her eye and back to Leo.

"Is there a problem?" she asked innocently.

Leo refrained from growling, but only just.

"For the last week, we have all been assaulted by the sound of the two of you banging on about this case. I know you don't agree on the picture the evidence paints, we all have times that we disagree, it's what keeps us sharp but can you please agree to disagree and get over this!" Leo smoothed the hair over his ear, he really had lost patience with the two of them recently.

"Are you saying the evidence is not important," Harry hissed; affronted that his boss had dared to dismiss the very core of their profession.

"Of course not Harry," Leo muttered.

"But" he continued raising his voice and addressing them both sternly, "In relation to the Symonds case actually maybe the evidence doesn't matter. The CPS are not taking this further so it doesn't matter how long the two of you argue over whether it was accidental or not. The case is over. You have to drop it."

"There's lots of evidence in the journals to support the theory that this was a staircase fa.."

"I said DROP IT!" Leo shouted, interrupting one of Nikki's expositions, they'd all heard the staircase fall one, and more than once and that was only in the last couple of days.

"Look," Leo stated, beginning to pace up and down in front of them.

"I know it's been a difficult year for all of us, in all kinds of ways. But the summer is nearly over. The new students will arrive in a couple of weeks. I am not starting off a new batch of them with the two of you poisoning the atmosphere in here with your toxic disagreements. Am I making myself clear?" Leo asked.

"Yes sir," mumbled Harry insolently.

Leo rewarded him with a glare, and realised that his speech had had absolutely no impact on them whatsoever.

Leo leaned in towards his colleagues.

"Right," he stated. "I really didn't want to have to do this, but if you can't apologise and get past this, I'll have no option."

"You can't suspend us, for disagreeing over a case!" Nikki exclaimed.

"She's the one, who's happy to let a murderer roam free, with all the motive and opportunity to kill again. I am not apologising for sticking to my interpretation of the evidence. If you didn't want us to disagree, you shouldn't have let her in on my case in the first place," declared Harry.

"Enough!" called Leo, his hand raised to silence them before the next round kicked off.

"I am not suspending either of you," Leo stated calmly.

"After the two of you kiss and make up, you can leave here with new assignments. There is to be no more mention of the Symonds case unless the police reopen that enquiry. Nikki, you are going to go and spend the next week working with a colleague of mine at the Anglia Ruskin University and you," Leo jabbed his finger towards Harry.

"You are going to prepare and deliver the first round of orientation information for the new students, all the health and safety stuff, university policies, bio-safety, complaints procedures etc."

Leo stepped back to observe the effect his little speech had had. Harry was no longer staring through his office wall but regarding him with undisguised revulsion. Nikki was looking rather pleased with herself in comparison, but she wouldn't be soon, Leo thought to himself. Dr. Fox might have been an old colleague of his but he was one of the most insufferable men he'd ever had the misfortune to work alongside. His pedantry and stubbornness would give even Nikki a run for her money.

"Well?" Leo asked.

"Oh, so now you're speechless!" Leo crowed.

"Leo, you can't make me..." Harry began, his voice low and earnest.

"What?" Leo asked innocently. "Write those introductory seminars or kiss and make up?"

"Come on, hurry up, some of us have work to do, I wasn't speaking figuratively you know," he chided.

Harry half turned to look at Nikki, she seemed to have acquired his stare now he had ceased using it. Harry pulled a face and lifted his shoulder in a gesture that Leo interpreted as to having to mean something to the pair of them in the crazy non-verbal language that they shared.

Harry lent forward and flamboyantly air-kissed the space near her right cheek, muttering.

"Have a lovely time in Harlow!"

Nikki's eyes grew round and sought out Harry's half smiling ones.

"Harlow?" she questioned.

"Oh yes, You'll love it. Didn't you know that's where the pathology department of Anglia Ruskin University is?" Harry's eye's glinting with pleasure at her distaste.

Leo saw Nikki's eyes darken and felt the beginnings of yet another outburst, it was time to intervene.

"I'm waiting," he insisted. "And that" he said gesturing towards Harry's air-kissing, "did not count!"

Nikki suddenly realised that Leo's chosen assignment for her was going to be every bit as onerous as Harry's and decided to accept her fate and get on with it. She turned fully to face Harry, looked into his eyes and said sincerely.

"I'm sorry for fighting about this again."

Harry couldn't help but return her gaze.

"I'm sorry t…" he began but was interrupted by Nikki's lips. She kissed him too passionately for an apology, too generously for a colleague and too fleetingly not to leave Harry wanting more. Then turned and marched out of the office, picked up her bag and walked out of the lab. The eyes of both men following her every move, their mouths hanging slightly open as they watched her go.

**Did make a discovery the other day, if you google BBC writersroom they have original BBC scripts to read and have Bloodlines and Schism up if you fancy some extra reading. Apologies to anyone from Harlow, it just seemed a good location, but no pathology department: sports science but no pathology.**

**PS I love reviews :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey Hey I'm back, this is back! It has turned into a 14 chapter hopefully funny fic, for all of you who are starting college, uni or new jobs and have to sit through orientation lectures. **

**For all my wonderful friends at Beth Tfiloh who taught me so much and for Florencia who inspired me with one of her reviews of my last story: "How you've managed to write something which would never happen on the show yet remain so true to the characters, to the point where I can actually see this happening in my head, I don't know." Hopefully it works for this one too. I realise Leo is more OTT than necessary but then it was the summer and we were all in the mood for some fun. Let me know what you think, and as usual it is finished so should pop up quite quickly.**

Harry was confused. Inwardly he was seething; he couldn't believe Leo had off loaded those seminars onto him. Yet outwardly as he sat staring at his computer he couldn't help thinking of his other colleague; the one that usually faced him across the desk and rebuffed his flirtatious comments and pretended to ignore his jokes. She had kissed him. On the mouth. She had apologised to him. She had walked out and left him.

"Harry!" he heard Leo shout and turned to see him put his head around the doorframe of his office. "If you see Zak, can you ask him to come and see me please," Leo continued. "Oh, and Harry; some work would be nice especially as it's your fault Nikki went home early."

"My fault!" Harry spluttered. But he knew better than to pick a fight with Leo, besides Leo had disappeared back into his office and he hadn't reopened the blinds after their little show down earlier.

He half-heartedly checked through the report he had been working on, but his mind kept vacillating between the horror of the lectures to come and the enchantment of the kiss. At least if he went to search out Zak, he would actually be doing one thing that Leo expected of him today.

Zak was wiping down the tables in the cutting room. The rhythm and pattern of his movements was slightly hypnotic. It reminded Harry of the Karate Kid movie, the original that was not some dodgy remake.

"Wax on – wax off," he called out trying not to startle him.

"Sorry. Did you say something?" Zak replied, removing the earpieces of his ipod.

"I said: Wax on – wax off." Harry repeated.

"Pardon?" questioned Zak.

"Never mind," Harry blustered. Damn he was getting old, that was the early Eighties, Zak wasn't even born… "Erm Leo wanted to see you if you have a moment. It didn't sound urgent, I'm sure you could finish up here."

Zak rolled his eyes to the ceiling and looked back at Harry.

"It'll be his iphone 4, he keeps wanting me to teach him how to use it."

"Oh," mumbled Harry. He really was old, if Leo needed someone younger to sort out his technology problems. But it would explain why Leo had been taking photos of everything that moved for the last week.

"Can you tell him I'll be another ten minutes?" Zak asked.

"Sure," muttered Harrry. He appeared to have turned into Leo's dogsbody, he may as well be Zak's gofer too.

He reported the news back to Leo, only to have a memory stick thrown at him. He wasn't sure whether to duck, or catch it, but in the critical last second realised what it was and his left hand stretched out instinctively and grabbed it.

"Last year's seminars," Leo stated.

And for the second time that day, Harry realised he'd been dismissed from his boss's office.

"Oh, and Harry!" Leo called after him. "I'll need your slides by Friday, so I can check them over the weekend. The first one is at 10:30 on Tuesday morning.

Harry slumped into his chair. This was going to be awful. He didn't mind the teaching aspect of the work at the Lyell, an able student and some perceptive questions could make a dull day go with a zing. But imparting information to the masses that wasn't interesting and that they didn't want to know either; wasn't it one of the circles of Hell in Dante's inferno?

There was only one thing that would cheer him up now; schadenfreude. He hadn't apologised first and for that he was proud, but that damn kiss; that had knocked him off kilter. But now he finally had a new purpose and a new direction. He scrolled through the list of names in his phone until he found the right one.

"Hi Benjamin, Harry Cunningham here."

"Harry Cunningham. Blimey! How long's it been?" his friend replied.

"Too long, and too many wasted opportunities," Harry answered.

"Oh, you've changed then; I don't remember you wasting too many opportunities back in med. school if you know what I mean." Benjamin laughed. "What can I do for you? I'm sure this isn't really a social call, you do know I'm working out of Beth Israel in Boston now, don't you?"

"Yes, of course, congratulations by the way, Harvard! Your mother must be very proud!" Harry blustered, rapidly calculating the time difference and wondering if his international tariff included the US.

"I'm after information really," Harry admitted. "You worked briefly with Dr. Fox at Anglia Ruskin didn't you?"

"Oy vey! Harry! You're not job hunting are you? What have you done?" Benjamin asked concerned.

"No, no, it's nothing like that, no you'll laugh really, my co-worker and I.."

"The leggy blond? The one that looks like she could eat you up for breakfast and then move onto your brother for lunch? You still work with her?" Benjamin interrupted.

"You're married. I don't have any brothers," stuttered Harry and then finished with: "I'd forgotten you'd met."

"Oh, don't worry Harry, somehow Jewish doctor with wife and four children wasn't her type, I'm immune, but you? You must be losing your edge Harry. And what has all this got to do with Dr. Fox?"

"We were fighting, we pissed off our boss, he sent her to Anglia Ruskin for a week, and I have to do the new students orientation and safety lectures as punishments." Harry explained.

"Oh Harry!" laughed Benjamin, "That is priceless, you have really made my day, you want to know who got the worse deal don't you."

"No, I just wanted some background….." Harry tailed off.

"Yes, actually I did, tell me she's going to hate it, please," begged Harry.

"Dr. Cunningham," Benjamin said seriously. "You will savour and enjoy every second of every COSHH lecture and every description of a fire exit you give in comparison to a week with Dr. Fox."

"Thank you." Harry replied. "Give my love to Rivka and the kids."

"Will do Harry, it's been good talking to you. You must let me know how it turns out. And if you stopped fighting with her for once and actually tried talking at a normal volume you two could turn into something you know." Benjamin added.

"Ppffff," Harry laughed. "Most of the time it's good, she just she just…"

"Be'hatzlacha vi shalom," interrupted Benjamin.

"Bye Benjamin; thanks" and then suddenly realising it was Friday added, "Shabbat Shalom."

"Shabbat shalom to you too, Harry."

Harry disconnected the phone and sat back in his chair. Now it was his turn to smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Be'hatzlacha vi shalom - Good luck and good bye although shalom comes with many meanings, both hello and goodbye, greetings, blessings and peace.<strong>

**Shabbat Shalom - sabbath (Jewish holy day) greetings **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to all who read and reviewed : )**

By Saturday afternoon, Harry was beginning to feel slightly sorry for Nikki, he'd googled the Premier Inn in Harlow and despite its four star rating, it was still in Harlow, and the best picture of it seemed to be the one of the car park and the pub. At least he wasn't having to pay for his punishment.

He'd briefly looked through the previous year's slides from the memory stick Leo had given him and spent the morning finding some extra visuals to go between the information slides. He was particularly proud of the picture of the COSHH safety directions on the bottle of water.

H₂0 if spilt rinse with plenty of water.

Maybe if he could get some laughs it would be possible to get through this, without entirely losing the will to live.

He still couldn't quite erase the memory of the feel of Nikki's lips on his own though. He'd kissed her before many times, and yet there was something about this one that had unsettled him and he couldn't shake that feeling. Was it because **she** had kissed him? Was it because he had been so angry with her before? He couldn't tell. It was worth at least a peace offering text anyway. Hadn't that been what Benjamin had said to him.

'V sorry, L not jking abt seminars.

Cr prk at Premier Inn Harlow looks nice.

Drinks 2nite 8 the usual?

Sorry Harry'

It wasn't long before Harry's phone pinged with a reply.

'ur so insincere, apology not accepted

Busy 2nite

Nx'

It was possibly the longest conversation the two of them had sustained all week without threats or violence so Harry took his chance.

'Really busy, or pretending to have a life busy?

I'll miss u

Love Harry'

He knew if she replied straight away, she was only pretending to be busy tonight. He could even tell if she was lying in a text, he'd never met someone so incapable of lying. So when it was half an hour before the message was returned he assumed she really was busy.

'Really, really busy cu nxt wk

I know

I'm sorry too

Nx'

Well if Nikki wasn't coming out for drinks, it would be a shame to waste a Saturday night, Harry reasoned. There was no harm in a bit of window shopping he thought. It might take his mind off… he couldn't help it, his eyes involuntarily closed and he replayed every feeling, every smell every second of the moments when she had kissed him.

'More' he concluded startling himself. That was the feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on. That's what it was. He wanted more. He scrubbed his lips with the back of his hand and went to put the coffee machine on in an attempt to distract himself but everywhere he looked he just remembered some instant when Nikki, had leaned here, sat there, his bachelor pad was full of her everywhere he looked. He flicked off the machine grabbed his keys and took off.

But as he jogged down the stairs Benjamin's words echoed around in his brain, "you two could turn into something you know." How did Benjamin know? He'd only met her the once. Harry remembered how they had all laughed when Benjamin announced he was getting married three years into his degree but now he envied him. To have had everything sorted way back then. Now Benjamin had faith, a family and a busy future ahead of him.

Harry felt as if he was still stuck in the waiting room. So many doors to choose but how to know which was the right one? If he'd chosen the door with Penny he could have a child ready to go off to University and he'd be a widower, or more likely divorced. He'd peeked through the window of the door leading to a foreign country with a language he didn't understand and a woman that fascinated him but he understood even less than her country but he was sure that was not the right one either. Then there was that other door, the one that was slightly ajar, the one that would only take a little nudge to open, but the one he'd convinced himself long ago the monsters were behind.

Well he'd got a week to figure this one out and return to the normal programming. He'd lived like this for years, there was no way; no way, he could let one kiss upset the fine balance he'd so carefully cultivated.

"Aagh!" he gasped as he ran down the stairs. She drove him insane. Most of the week it had been with her theories and science and now it was the feel of her pressed up against him, looking at him with those big brown eyes. This wasn't how it was supposed to be! This was not what they did. Why had she gone and changed the rules on him and why was he finding it so hard to handle? It wasn't as if he was fourteen he was nearly forty.

There was only one way to obliterate all of this, and it wasn't alcohol. The state he was in if he had a skinful now he could imagine himself rolling up to her doorstep and declaring his unwavering passion for her at three in the morning. He would be lucky to escape with just a bucket of cold water thrown at him.

No this was a time for noise, and total brain overload. It was time to head to the multiplex.


	4. Chapter 4

Monday was quiet, eerily quiet. It was even quieter than the times when Nikki had gone off to work in South Africa, or her spell in Yorkshire last year. Harry was quietly enjoying himself, it was odd really, it was Zak who was finding it harder to deal with, Harry caught him a number of times looking over his shoulder, as if just waiting for her to come in. Harry couldn't help himself and got out his phone.

'Zak, missing u, keeps looking behind him

Can't believe u threw that scalpel at me!

V quiet here

Love H'

There was a while before his phone bleeped again with a reply and that just a couple of words:

'In Hell, stop txting. Nx'

Harry stared at his phone. They texted all the time, it was what they did, texting or phonecalls and he always knew what she meant even with the shortest of messages. She obviously was having a terrible time. He should have pressed Benjamin for more information. It was at that point his phone rang, it wasn't Nikki but a suspected suspicious circumstances over in Kensington. He grabbed his jacket; it might well be the English summer but he wasn't taking the chance of leaving it behind and headed out.

It was after three when Harry finally made it back to his desk and despite the jacket he was still wet. Bloody weather! He sat down to begin the paperwork on the morning's callout. He opened his email out of habit and was surprised to find a slew of messages from Nikki, he didn't know anyone else at Anglia Ruskin so they had to be from her. They rarely emailed, there were a few 'here's the file you wanted' and an attachment but even when they were apart they preferred the phone so he opened the first message eagerly.

From: Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu 11.05am

_Harry_

_My phone's in Ziploc bag on Fox's desk! How old does he think I am? 15! Had to bribe a student to get me an email account so Dr Frankenstein thinks I'm working._

_Got to pass some 'tests' before being let loose on the students, it's humiliating._

_Sorry to hear about Zak I did remove the blade before I threw it; guess he didn't realise. Hope he didn't realise, as that was a really girlie scream he did. Say sorry from me and I miss him too._

_Nikki_

He clicked straight to the next one.

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 11.58am

To:HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Harry,_

_That had better not be you sending me texts, every time that phone bleeps I can see him note something down, I'm sure he's keeping a tally. Probably if I get more than 50 I get fined or something. Made light hearted comment when phone first confiscated about Nazi's. Dr Fox offered to take me on guided tour of his synagogue later. You have to beg Leo to let me back!_

_Tell him I'm sorry, tell him anything, you have to help me, it's all your fault I'm stuck here anyway._

_Nikki_

Harry held in the expletive he thought of whilst reading the bit about it all being his fault, it helped slightly to think of what a terrible time she must be having.

Click.

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 1:15pm

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Harry,_

_Have I mentioned how awful the coffee is, the sandwiches are rubbish too. Where the hell are you? Surely you're not actually working? I'm still working on this test paper, didn't think he was serious to start with, but I have to find the 10 errors on this toxicology report or he won't let me do this series of lectures. Some of the students I met all signed up for this months ago. You don't think Leo could have had this planned all along do you? Am sending copy of this test paper; only have two left to find. I wrote a list of the ones I did find on the bottom, so don't go crowing about wrong concentrations and incorrect SI units. I found those._

_Thanks in advance for your help._

_Nikki_

Oh the crafty minx, thanks in advance she really had a nerve sometimes.

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 2:35pm

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Harry,_

_Am really getting desperate, only thing to make this bearable would be to teach facial reconstruction for a few days and get out of this goldfish bowl desk. He just watches me all the time and not like you watch me all the time, really creepy watching all the time. Guess you must be out at a scene, would really appreciate any help when you get back. Please._

_Love Nikki_

And now she loves him?

And what was all that stuff about him watching her all the time. He didn't do that, did he? And what was the difference between watching and creepy watching? He re-read the last couple of messages and opened the attachment with Dr Fox's test. It wasn't long before he started typing.

From: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

To: Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 3:21pm

_Dear Nikki,_

_You've got a bit of a nerve after last week, but I admit it does sound terrible. Leo is still brandishing his iphone, he's holding Zak to ransom to teach him how to use it. Check the blood work again on this test toxicology report, it's not what's there that's a problem but what's not there. And there's a misused colon in the first paragraph, it should be a semicolon. It may not be what he's looking for but it will make the mistakes up to ten and it sounds like he's the sort of man who wouldn't misuse a colon if you get my drift._

_Kind Regards_

_Harry_

Kind regards? Kind regards? Where did that come from? He hoped he'd been subtle enough hinting at the last remaining errors. He knew from past experience that she didn't appreciate being told that she'd missed something or got something wrong. But that semicolon? Really who gives a about semicolons?

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 3:24pm

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Harry_

_You do know that I hate you don't you._

_Love Nikki_

Harry just started laughing and typing

From: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

To: Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 3:26pm

_Yes I do and I love you too._

_Harry_

Harry stared at the message as his finger hovered over the send button. Written there in black and white were the words 'I love you.' They'd said them in jest to each other so many times, but here written down it just seemed different. He thought about changing it to 'I hate you too' but even after the last week, and even with those student seminars looming, it wasn't true. It wasn't true at all.

Click.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry about the fake email addresses and the use of &amp; and , instead of ATsign and . but otherwise the document manager got a bit stressed<strong>.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a while before there were any more messages from Nikki. It was bizarre not being able to phone her, talk to her. It was like forgetting to put your watch on, you didn't realise how much you used it until it wasn't there. But at five o'clock his inbox began to fill up again.

From: Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 5.23pm

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Harry_

_Dr Fox not joking about trip to synagogue, we're leaving in ten minutes. He also threatened to keep my phone overnight. I said he couldn't and what if my mother was ill and had to call me urgently and do you know what his reply was?_

'_Well then I would know for sure that you're a liar, your mother has already passed.' What am I going to do? I'm not going to be able to stand a week without throwing something. You have to think of something and fast._

_Love you_

_Nikki_

Oh she was really milking it now he thought.

From: HCunningham&LSSE,edu 5.24pm

To: Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu

_Dear Nikki,_

_Harlow has a synagogue, who knew? Lucky for you computer aided facial reconstruction doesn't often involve scalpels and just think of the positives. You'll be able to go home early on Friday and I'll still have a week's worth of seminars to do. Enjoy the Beefeater and the hotel._

_Love you too_

_Harry_

There was nothing more from her; he wondered how the tour was going. It was after he'd been home for an hour; another hour of silence, he couldn't help but send a text:

"hope u njoyd ur salad or did u have the steak n chips?"

He figured she obviously wasn't quite back to joking with him as she didn't reply. It was midnight when the reply came back:

"synagogue fascinating, had dinner with

Dr Fox, he's not as bad as I thought. Nx"

Harry's heat sank. This was not what he needed. He really should have got more from Benjamin, like at least how old this guy was. As if reading his thoughts his phone bleeped again.

"Sorry, hope u njoyd M&S dinner or was

it Kowloon Kitchen? Dr Fox's wife makes

gr8 rugelach. No 1 ever got 10 b4 Thank u Nx"

Harry laughed out loud staring into his phone, he'd had a millisecond of fear that she had pulled her usual trick of seducing the men she found most difficult and it turned out it was just a family dinner a love for Jewish pastries and being better than anyone else that had buoyed her spirits. Well she'd have never scored ten if he hadn't have helped. He bet she hadn't passed that bit of information on to Dr Fox.

He was still smiling when he got into bed, he'd been stuck in traffic on the way home and seen a series posters on the bus stops for the drink aware campaign, it was going to be perfect for his seminars. They all had the title: 'Why let good times go bad?'

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you like how it's going, let me know… The drinkaware campaign in genuine and I'm sure it would pop up on a google search. And Harlow really does have a synagogue. More soon let me know where you think we're going!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks to those who read and reviewed, I realise this chapter is kind of boring now, but it is necessary for what's coming later. Maybe you can guess? And a big konichiwa to Hiroko and any other mum's out there.**

Harry was quite pleased with his seminar slides. Granted he was still delivering the most boring information known to man, but then it was in the rules that all students had to sit through orientation. There was no faking it either, not like in his day; every student had to sign in and sign out now. He recalled being at his orientation lecture with a maximum of thirty people present, yet mysteriously when the 45 names were called out, every one of them was answered. Even some by a 'konichiwa' or 'jambo'; those were the days.

The first slide in his powerpoint set showed a group of three boys walking along happily arms around each other, and in the second the outer two were dragging their friend along, as he was too inebriated to walk. The third slide just read 'Why let good times go bad?' The drinkaware website had really come up trumps and not just for some great visuals.

From there it was on to an outline of the four areas he had to cover.

The health and safety bit; fire safety, evacuation procedures, and the safe use of university property, the labs in particular and COSHH guidelines.

The university policies: which included the disciplinary protocols, drugs policy, anti-bullying policy, and complaints procedures.

Student services: which included the health centre, counselling, interfaith chaplaincy and the student union.

Finally it was the student protection services an extension of child protection and sexual harassment. It really fitted under health and safety but Harry decided that as he had to sit through the same child protection information year in year out he had no reason not to inflict it on the students. There was a hope that one of them might think twice before dropping something illegal into someone's drink, or at least being told that 'no means no' actually does mean no, and an end to your university career if you misunderstand this, so it could be a valuable piece of information for some numbskull out there.

All the sections had a slide or two of something humorous mixed in with the information to keep both him and the students from dozing off, or stabbing each other with biro's out of boredom. He had his COSSH guidelines for water, and some great clips from YouTube with some imbecilic student's work going up in flames in a fume hood. He had a few more posters of drunk/hammered students from the drinkaware website and a picture of the list of names (blanked out of course) of all of last year's students who managed to get themselves on LSSE's disciplinary list. It was surprisingly long, maybe Leo wasn't as good at the orientation lectures as he should have been.

He'd put a big picture of the library up at the beginning of the Student Services section, not because it needed to be there, but just so that no student would be able to claim on leaving LSSE that in three years they had never seen the library. It was by no means an attractive building but then at least it had a building, the chaplaincy had been denigrated to a Portakabin this year which Harry thought most unfair, especially after all the work they had done after the Scott Weston affair.

He wasn't sure what to add to the last section, it wasn't one that jokes really fitted into, instead he found an old Matt cartoon, from the Telegraph. It was a single picture drawing of a middle aged man giving a lecture to a group of students with the caption underneath: 'any questions?' The questions arising because in the cartoon, the middle aged lecturer is wearing a suit, a ballerina tutu skirt and a headband with antennae.

He saved the work to his laptop and to the memory stick Leo had given him at the beginning of the week. He was actually ready to hand it in on Friday morning, Leo would be astonished. It had been a busy week too, but somehow everything had been done despite the fact that Nikki was not there to help. Somewhere a thought flittered across his consciousness that the reason his work was always late was her fault. She was just so damn distracting. Maybe it was all that staring at her that she claimed he did. Maybe hours passed that he was total unaware of…but probably not.

It had been a stress free week too in many respects. He knew Dr Fox had her chained to a desk, or to a load of PhD students none of whom from what she had said seemed likely to turn into axe wielding maniacs by the end of the week and hold her hostage, and she'd seemed to have kept herself out of any other kinds of trouble Essex might have for her. He'd had a whole week of sleeping easy.

Well not quite, sleep was never quite that easy. Not for him anyway. And try as he might to forget the events of the previous Friday, they were still there lingering, a hint a whisper of something more. Something more than this, wasn't that an old Cure song? He'd look it up later. When had he gotten so old? Not that he felt old, or mature perhaps, he felt exactly the same as he did going to that orientation lecture; serious but with a taste for insubordination. He'd been responsible for answering for at least five absent students and the first of the konichiwa's.

Had he been too hard working back then? He'd worked hard, sure but then he'd partied hard too. Apart from the frequency with which girls threw themselves at him, very little had changed really from his student days. He had broken his yearning to become like his father and his dabbling with insubordination had blossomed into a full on loathing of bureaucracy and red tape. It was easy with Leo as boss, his bark was much worse than his bite, so Harry knew he had nothing much to fear. But the years continued to roll by and he seemed no closer to answering those big questions of life that had bothered him as a student. He was too old to be stuck in that waiting room; it was definitely time for more than this. But which door to open?

That rolled his thoughts back to Nikki. He'd actually really enjoyed her emails this week. It seemed so much easier to type the words he wanted to say to her, rather than have to look at her and formulate something coherent. The emails never seemed to be misinterpreted, or make her angrier. Maybe next time they had a fight he would suggest email only communication for a week. Perhaps he only liked it because he could imagine her laughing at his jokes and not rolling her eyes as she usually did.

He was about to take the memory stick through to Leo when he noticed a new email.

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 11.21am

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Hi Harry,_

_Hope you got those slides finished, before Leo subjects you to death by iphone. I've agreed to proof read a student's thesis this weekend and go through it with her on Monday. Do you fancy coming out to Essex on Saturday afternoon to do something? If I work all Saturday morning on it, I'll be desperate to get out somewhere in the afternoon. We could go to Southend or something like that. I'll not be back at the Lyell on Monday, but will be back in time for your seminars on Tuesday. The first one's at 10:30 isn't it?_

_Let me know about Saturday, I already checked and there are no air shows. Sorry._

_Love Nikki._

Had he just been invited on a date?

* * *

><p><strong>If you google Matt cartoons the lecturer picture should come up in the image section, also the drinkaware pictures are real and belong to them.<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

Harry continued to stare at his computer. How did she do it? She spends half the week moaning about how awful everything was and then voluntarily agrees to stay longer and read some PhD thesis to boot. He'd had to pay an undergraduate to proof read his final year project for him. But then she always did love a cause.

From: HCunningham&LSSE,edu 11.30am

To:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu

_Dear Nikki,_

_Has the sun suddenly come out over there or after five days have you actually lost it? You couldn't wait to get out of the place on Monday and now you want me to come there too? You haven't been to Southend either I can tell. I know the coast of Cape Town, is majestic and the South Atlantic particularly bewitching but this is Southend you're talking about and the North Sea just doesn't have the same appeal. It is flat and grey and endless and sums up a lot of Essex, why don't you come back to London? I'm sure we could find something to do._

_Harry_

His thoughts were broken by a call from Leo:

"Have you finished those seminars yet Harry? I wanted them this morning."

"Sorry," apologised Harry as he walked over to Leo's office and tossed the memory stick over to him, they've been finished for a while. I just forgot to hand this back."

Leo snorted and unceremoniously ushered Harry out of his office.

'Zak really was the new golden boy then', he thought. Nikki was away and even Leo wasn't up for a chat. He was grateful to find another email waiting for him when he got back to his desk.

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 11.35am

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Harry,_

_Come on it's not as bad as all that surely? I'll get you some fish and chips. Anyway I'm not coming back to London this weekend it's the Last night of the Proms* so I'll be trapped either in or out of my apartment all day, and when I finally get back in and to sleep I will be woken up by fog-horning revellers singling 'Land of Hope and Glory,' loudly. I'll stick to Essex if it's all the same to you, no one will wake me up with one of Elgar's variations here. I could go out Tuesday promised to take me to Zumba party night if you weren't coming out to play anyway._

_Nx_

Harry was glad he'd finished his work and Leo was ensconced in his office with the blinds drawn again. He read the email again and again but still couldn't really make sense of all of it; it was definitely not sounding date like now.

He'd also forgotten it was Last Night of the Proms weekend. She had stayed over at his place last year. Turned up on his doorstep laden with shopping bags from a trip to Oxford Street. She had meant to take them to her flat but couldn't get them all on the bus with all the other people so had pitched up at his instead. It wasn't long after the pizza was finished, that she started snoring so he crept off to his room, tossing a blanket over her and quietly calling the girl he was supposed to be meeting for drinks to cancel, and going to bed himself.

It was the last bit that caused him a problem; he'd have to ask:

From: HCunningham&LSSE,edu 11.41am

To:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu

_Dear Nikki,_

_I thought you said you were coming back on Tuesday? You're not really going to sit through the whole seminar are you? It may not be quite as boring as this thesis you promised to read. I hope it's got a good title. Not sure even fish and chips are going to tempt me to Southend but you know you could come here like last year. I could always wake you up with one of Elgar's variations if you asked me nicely enough. Have you checked out this night club, it sounds dodgy to me? It is Essex you know; you might not be allowed in without a spray tan and fake nails._

_Love Harry_

Harry held his breath, written down the gag about Elgar's variations sounded a lot ruder than he had anticipated.

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 11.44am

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_Oh Harry,_

_You're so funny! I'd forgotten about last year, didn't we have pizza and I fell asleep ten minutes into some dodgy DVD and you got all embarrassed and cancelled your date, in case you forgot I was there and you tried to bring her back to your place, and I was asleep on your sofa. That really would have been worth seeing._

_Anyway Zumba's not a night club you idiot it's a dance/exercise class and I'm going with Tuesday, not on Tuesday. Tuesday is the name of the student who's thesis I'm going to read. The title as you're so fascinated is "Differential effects of frozen storage on the molecular detection of bacterial taxa that inhabit the nasopharynx" and the subjects are all from the Gambia. It could be interesting. I don't think spray tans are essential for exercise classes even in Essex. I've never been before but Tuesday assures me you spend a lot of time laughing, a lot of time wiggling your hips, plenty of time jiggling your chest and you end up hot and sweaty. What could be better on a Saturday night? And who's to say I've not had my nails done already?_

_Just as a final thought, how many of Elgar's variations do you know?_

_Love Nikki_

Harry stuffed a hand in his mouth. There was so much to take in; not least had she used a semi-colon in her last sentence it would have made more sense, but he just had to send this one.

From: HCunningham&LSSE,edu 11.49am

To:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu

_Her name is Tuesday? For real?_

_H _

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 11.51am

To: &LSSE,edu

_Yes for real._

_Nx_

There wasn't really a reply to that, and how had she known about him cancelling that date last year? He was sure he hadn't told her. Why was his life so confusing sometimes? And why had she put in all that stuff in about this dance class? Was she intending to impose on him a weekends worth of insomnia. He was beginning to think that the emails were not such a good idea after all. Face to face they could be risqué with their banter but they had carefully constructed their limits. Here in print things were getting serious and it was hard to know where the double entendre stopped and the truth began.

How could he make a reply? Nothing he wrote about enjoying the hip thrusting dance class could ever come across as professional. And as for Elgar's variations? He wished he hadn't spent most of the week writing a seminar on what constitutes sexual harassment in the work place. It had obviously just given him ideas.

Finally he decided to play it safe:

From: HCunningham&LSSE,edu 11.59am

To:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu

_Dear Nikki,_

_I'll miss you, hope you enjoy the seminar on Tuesday, it'll be a good way for you to catch up on some sleep anyway. Watch out for the nasopharyngeal microbes, I hope it's not too boring. Have fun with Tuesday, you can't have got your nails done, you'd never be able to get your surgical gloves on._

_Don't worry I know all fourteen of Elgar's variations you are just the Enigma._

_Love Harry_

He was pretty pleased with that really until her reply came back.

From:Guest5987&angliaruskin,edu 12.03pm

To: HCunningham&LSSE,edu

_For goodness sake go get some lunch Harry, I think you're delirious. Have you done any work while I've been away or just been surfing Elgar on Wikipedia? I will see you on Tuesday and we'll get back to normal. Please?_

_Love Nikki_

* * *

><p><strong>Really did have a student called Tuesday once...<strong>

**This really is a genuine article but don't ask me what it is actually about it was one that popped up where I recognised most of the words in the title….**

**Differential effects of frozen storage on the molecular detection of bacterial taxa that inhabit the nasopharynx **Brenda A Kwamban , Nuredin I Mohammed , David Jeffries , Mike Barer , Richard A Adegbola and Martin Antonio from BioMedCentral Cllinical pathology Published: 24 January 2011

*The Proms are a series of summer concerts in the Albert Hall, going now for 117 years making quality classical music accessible to a wide audience. The Last Night of the Proms has a traditional second half of Great British Sing-a-longs including Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory (Elgar actually a Pomp and Circumstance March but the Enigma Variations made a better joke), Jerusalem and the National Anthem. All accompanied by fancy dress, flag waving and the odd fog horn, but only at musically appropriate intervals.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry was glad he had followed Nikki's advice and gone to get a sandwich. He hadn't even unwrapped it when he was called out to a scene. He ate and drove hoping the crime scene wouldn't make him regret his decision. He had a strong stomach, but even with it there were some things you didn't need to see straight after lunch. He certainly wasn't excited about the area he was going to. There were two bodies, teenagers, kids really, both with a gratuitous amount of visible stab wounds. One white, one black and each dumped on the respective wrong sides of the gang divide.

The media were already on a feeding frenzy, the white kid had got important connections somewhere; or his family had, politics he'd overheard one of the police officers say. There didn't seem to be as much media interest in the other body. Harry despised the media, he especially despised the warped view they portrayed as to a person's worth. If both victims had been black, he thought cynically he could have been out here on his own, with a couple of SOCO's and the police for company. It was disgusting really.

Avoiding the chatter, he examined the bodies as quickly as he could and got them packed up and back to the Lyell centre and out of the scrutiny of the cameras. The SOCO's could finish off outside. From the lack of blood at the scene, this was not the primary crime scene and so little was to be gained by hanging around, unless you fancied your picture on 'London Tonight'.

If the scene was bad, the Lyell Centre was actually worse. Leo was fighting off a whole tribe of people who all thought they were important and all of whom wanted answers yesterday. Harry skirted his desk, without even sitting down and called across to Leo,

"I'll get started right away shall I?" and promptly disappeared to get scrubbed up.

He did start right away too, Zak had prepped the room while he'd been out at the scene and he started with one of the victims from the scene. But he thought to himself with a wry smile as he unzipped the body bag, it probably wasn't the one the crowds of people upstairs were anticipating. He wasn't going to join in with whatever games they were playing. People were people and Harry didn't make judgements, he just did his job.

The day didn't improve and had he made plans to see Nikki at the weekend he would have had to have cancelled them. The media were hounding the police for every last detail, and declaring a new turf war in East London. Harry worked solidly all weekend with a few hours off on Sunday afternoon. Monday was slightly quieter until all the samples he'd sent off for screening came back and the circus started again. He was quite looking forward to the orientation seminars now. It would keep him out of everyone's way and there would be a whole hour and a half where he wouldn't get yelled at by another member of the MET.

Oh and Nikki would be back of course.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry this set not so funny but it's just around the corner….<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Harry hugs to tigpop, Ann1119 and pinkswallowsun for being cheered up by this and reviewing and cheering me up too, you're all fab. Watch out for Leo, he's in a trouble making mood...**

"Harry? Harry! has anyone seen Harry?" Zak's voice rang out across the office area.

"I last saw him in the cutting room," replied a disembodied voice.

"But his seminar starts in fifteen minutes!" cried Zak and tore off in the direction of the cutting room. He loved his job, well some of the time and his colleagues, but the trouble with them being so brilliant at what they did was that they did sometimes have trouble with the more normal aspects of a working day, like remembering to have lunch and getting to a lecture hall with enough time to spare to actually load up your slides and check the lights are on.

"Harry!" Zak gasped. "Leo's doing his nut, why are you in here?"

"Oh, it was just something I thought about in the night, I wanted to check on our first victim here, just a hunch really…" Harry muttered his head level with the corpse and his concentration complete.

"It's 10:15 Harry, you really need to get over to the lecture hall and get things set up," Zak pleaded.

Harry broke from his reverie and looked up at the clock. "Plenty of time," he replied.

Zak just stared at him. "You are not giving an orientation lecture to the new students in those scrubs! Go and change and I'll go and get things set up. Where are your slides?

"You really think I have to change?" asked Harry screwing his face up in disgust.

"Yes! Go now! The slides?" Zak demanded.

"Oh, Leo's got them erm I'll er see you over there then," Harry said and walked ponderously towards the locker room.

Zak on the other hand sprinted out of the cutting room, grabbed the memory stick from Leo and high tailed it over to the lecture hall. There was a long line of students already, queuing to sign in and taking their seats.

Zak turned on the AV equipment and the lights for the small podium area. He loaded the memory stick into the laptop and took the remote control down the stairs and placed it on the reading stand. Dashing back up the stairs he opened the file that seemed most likely to be Harry's seminar slides and an image of three smiling teenagers appeared on the massive screen. He heard the door click open.

"Oh Harry, thank goodness," Zak exploded. "Is this the right file?"

"Oh yes it is," came back the reply but it wasn't Harry that had sat behind Zak in the AV room. It was Leo.

"I've been looking forward to this for a week," Leo said the first smile for days, gracing his lips.

Meanwhile Harry had stumbled his way through the milling students to the podium at the front. He stood behind the reading stand and looked up towards the AV room, he shielded his eyes from the stage lights and called up.

"Can you do anything about these lights; they're right in my face?"

"Not in the remaining two minutes, Harry no. You'll have to manage; I might be able to dim them a little." Zak called back.

And just for a second, Harry thought he saw another figure in the lighting box with Zak.

"Leo?" he muttered.

Zak's face appeared close to the window, so Harry couldn't help but see him.

'Sorry,' Zak mouthed and moved back again.

Harry was puzzled; sorry for what? But there was no time left for further deliberations. The outside doors were shut. It was time to begin.

"Good morning ladies and gentleman, I'm Dr Harry Cunningham and it is my dubious honour to welcome you to the London School of Science and Engineering and present the policy and procedures of this prestigious establishment." Harry continued his introduction on auto-pilot scanning the first few rows of the lecture hall, seeing the expectant faces, the bored faces, the students already busy on their phones, concentrating on anything other than him but not the one face he was looking for. To be fair the lights were so bright it was impossible to see anything much beyond the first couple of rows and even Nikki wouldn't be as cruel as to sit right at the front even after the fight they'd had the week before last.

"I do need to ask you though to turn off your phones, ipods and other electronic devices for the duration of this lecture which I have given the title: 'Why let good times go bad?' You have a unique opportunity before you, the opportunity to study, learn and gain useful qualifications, the opportunity to live beyond the observation of your parents and the opportunity try out life for yourselves. I hope after your time here you will be able to look back and say that you didn't let the good times go bad."

Harry clicked onto his next slide, the one where the boys were now carrying their mate as he was too inebriated to stand. There was a slight buzz of amusement in the room and Harry noted that there were a few more faces looking up at the slides from the rows he could see. Maybe it would be alright after all.

His gaze lifted to the illuminated window of the AV room; that was definitely Leo standing there. Why was he here? Why had Zak apologised? He couldn't help feeling that something was definitely going to happen, he was also pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.

It was then that there was a loud crash as one of the doors at the back opened. Harry was just about to make some joke about students and time keeping, when he thought he recognised the newcomer. There was no question. The darkness of the room and strong lighting of the corridor created an unmistakable silhouette, the skinny legs, the improbably high heels and long flowing hair.

Nikki had arrived.


	10. Chapter 10

He listened to the click clack of her heels; with the door shut he could no longer see her. It didn't last long, so she must have taken a seat at the back. He smiled in her direction and clicked the remote onto his summary slide.

"We have four areas to cover this morning…." he continued.

It was as he was discussing the fire evacuation procedures and emergency- management plan, that he began to notice that the changing of the slides didn't quite coincide with his pressing of the remote control.

'Just what I need,' he thought, 'dodgy batteries' but then instead of a picture of a map of campus with the refuge points highlighted, a grainy black and white image appeared. He had to turn to look at the screen behind him, to see what it was. It looked like a CCTV still. His heart sank as he recognised the picture; himself, Leo and Nikki all stood outside the Lyell Centre. His coat around Nikki's shoulders, his arms around his coat and her head tucked into his chest.

Harry exhaled.

'If only it were dodgy batteries,' he wished and looked up to the AV box.

Leo smiled down at him, waving a small piece of plastic in his hand.

So it was Leo who had the real remote control and Leo who had obviously added an extra slide of his own, to Harry's presentation. One slide? Two? Leo had been really busy with that new phone recently. Harry's earlier suspicion of foreboding was quickly becoming a deep seated, gut wrenching feeling of dread. No wonder Zak had apologised in advance; he threw the remote control onto the reading stand. He looked back towards the students and saw the faces of the front row looking expectantly up at him.

"Ah, yes," he began again. "As you can see, this is a slide of one of the points of refuge just outside the Lyell Centre and although LSSE policy does dictate that in the event of an emergency you should leave your personal belongings and evacuate as quickly and safely as possible. If you do have your coat or keys to hand and don't need to go looking for them, then it is quite a good idea to take them outside with you."

There was a small titter in response to Harry's bluff over the slide and mercifully Leo moved it on to the real one with the map. Harry robotically reeled off the locations of the safe zones, but in his mind he was panicking, what else had Leo added. Is that why Leo had wanted them on Friday? Nikki had been utterly humiliated by her 'punishment,' is that what Leo had in store for him too, utter humiliation. But there was nothing he could do, he had to carry on.

The next few slides popped up as expected, but because Harry hadn't prepared in advance he hadn't set up his laptop on the reading stand to show him the pictures that his audience were seeing, so he had to surreptitiously look over his shoulder to see whether Leo had sprung any more surprises.

The second section was the various policies, inevitably in the drugs section where Harry had had a slide from the Drinkaware website Leo had replaced it with one of Harry pretending to drink from one of the Lab alcohol bottles. He'd remembered Leo staging that one when he first had his new phone so he was expecting that would appear somewhere. It drew a laugh from the students and so Harry just continued with his information. During the bullying section there was a photo of Harry pointing towards the door, the expression on his face murderous and Zak looking worried and confused.

"It's important to ask your lecturers questions," Harry blagged. "Here as you can see my assistant has asked me for the forty-eighth time that day the location of the exit door. Perhaps if you make your questions a little more prescient, your teachers will treat you with the full respect you deserve. On a serious note though, university staff that abuse their position are disciplined and it is your responsibility to bring it to the university's attention if you do feel that an employee's behaviour is unprofessional.

Harry was sweating now, the combination of the lights and the uncertainty of what was going to appear next on the screen was appalling. He looked towards the back corner where Nikki must be.

'I bet she's enjoying this,' he thought. Of all the people present she would be able to tell just exactly how powerless and humiliated he was.

He knew his next slide should be of the library. There was no way Leo would have changed that one and so he began confidently.

"Now, this old thing may not look like the most exciting thing on campus, but there is a lot of wisdom tied up in there, and I didn't want you to spend three years here and say you had never seen it…"

"S'not looking that bad from here," came a voice from the darkness.

Emboldened by the first heckler someone else called out, "Looks beautiful mate, and watch it she's not that old!"

Harry turned slowly to look at the picture on the screen; it wasn't as he suspected his picture of the library. It was a picture of Nikki, dressed in scrubs leaning against the drawers in the cutting room, minimal make up, hair tied back but breath taking all the same, her eyes sparkling, a generous smile on her face and the hint of mischief about her.

"Err no," began Harry. "That is not the library obviously, that is my colleague Dr Alexander. Those of you taking the anthropology module will in time benefit from her erm wisdom and …"

"Anthropology did you say?" called out a cheeky voice.

"I wasn't planning on taking it, but I might fancy it now," they continued. There was definite laughter now from the students in the room and a couple more "me too's."

Harry cringed, he didn't dare look towards Nikki's corner now. He was just grateful he'd not said anything about being IN the library as opposed to just seeing it. But he suspected her enjoyment of his misery had abruptly ended.

"Moving on," Harry declared his voice resolute praying that Leo would take pity on him and click over to the next slide. He was relieved when his picture of the library finally appeared.

'Well,' he thought to himself on the plus side, the students were actually listening to him. Nikki may well never speak to him again, and he certainly wasn't going to be on speaking terms with Leo any time soon, but he wouldn't have any 'student deaths by biro stabbing to investigate.'


	11. Chapter 11

The fourth section was the sexual harassment and student protection information. He had purposely left out the funnier slides from this section primarily because of the seriousness of the information but he wasn't so sure about Leo. After the library fiasco, he had gone back to checking over his shoulder to see what actually was on the screen before saying anything. It made his speech rather disjointed but at least he wouldn't make any more catastrophic blunders.

"It is very important that you take responsibility for your own behaviour during your time at LSSE. You are classed as adults now and it is not your parent's responsibility to remind you about what is acceptable and unacceptable here."

Harry noticed the screen change behind him and there nine feet high was a photo of Nikki sticking her tongue out at him, he was still staring open mouthed at it when the slide clicked over to a picture of him putting two fingers back up at her.

"As I was saying, LSSE expects a certain maturity of behaviour,"

There was an inevitable chuckle in the light of the picture on the screen.

"It is important to treat others as you would expect to be treated, but with familiarity a certain level of erm playfulness can be allowed providing all the participants are consenting."

Click

This time it was Harry shouting, mid rant inches from Nikki's face, her face stony and defiant.

Click

Nikki waving a stack of files, Harry backed against a wall. The files looking as likely to come down on his head as to be read; her eyes red and angry.

Click

The two of them stood in front of Leo's desk, looking just like naughty school children.

There was an audible gasp from the students and Harry began again.

"In conclusion LSSE has very strong views on behaviour and there are disciplinary procedures in place for anyone, and I mean anyone that it deems to have broken the rules here."

That raised another gentle laugh.

"Think!" requested Harry. "You have your whole lives ahead of you, don't let some drunken prank or drug induced sexual conquest ruin your life. Make the most of your time here; work hard, play hard and as I said at the beginning you have everything ahead of you, 'why let good times go bad?'

He stepped back from the reading stand in a hope that the students would realise he had finished or at least had enough and then leave so he could go and hide somewhere and never come out again. But just before anyone moved, the screen flashed.

Click

Harry turned to look. It wasn't a still photo this time, it was a video.

They were both still in Leo's office, but it was after Leo's ticking off and there in technicolour, nine feet high and for all to see Nikki stepped forwards, looked him straight in the eyes and kissed him on the mouth. Harry had been reliving this moment privately for a week, but here it was and anything but private.

"I think you could be in there!" called out a helpful student.

"I shan't bother with that anthropology module after all," called another.

"Are you sure that's consensual?" shouted a third, obviously referring to Harry's somewhat stunned expression on the video."

"Have you set a date yet?" asked one of the girls at the front.

After standing goldfishing at the video for a while, Harry stepped back into the light by the reading stand and said.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming today, congratulations on your place here at LSSE, make the most of it. And I would just like to thank Professor Leo Dalton on your behalf for making this morning's seminar so erm so err entertaining," concluded Harry.

There was a spontaneous round of applause and a lot of laugher and then chatter as the students got up to leave. Harry stepped back out of the lights and sat down in a chair at the back of the stage. He cast his eyes towards the AV box, but Leo had disappeared.

What did he do now?

* * *

><p><strong>Well I know for sure Harry would press the review button, but how about you? Harry hugs if you do : )<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**We're on the home straight now, Harry hugs as promised to the lovely NewspaperBalloons, tigpop, pinkswallowsun, Ann1119 and Lilypad1.**

Harry pulled his thumb and forefinger across his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, he had to think this through, analyse, draw conclusions, devise a strategy, get his heart rate down before he had a coronary. Nikki had managed to get through her week and by the end of it was able to find something positive. Leo wouldn't have done this just to be vindictive. It wasn't who he was. But had they gone too far this time? Pushed Leo beyond the limits of his patience?

His mind was whirling, images, thoughts, emotions and sounds all crowing for his attention and all without any order. Harry hated disorder. He tried breathing deeply but found his thoughts drawn towards Leo's pictures.

Those pictures; they had been shocking. The vehemence of their anger, the transformation of her face from that smiling picture of her earlier, to the one with the files. And it was his fault; all his fault; he did that to her. He scrubbed his eyes again. She just got under his skin like no one else he had ever known. He paused, that wasn't quite true; his mother could do it to, but thinking of his mother and Nikki in the same moment was not something he liked to dwell on, it led to all sorts of scenarios that he had trained his brain not to investigate.

'Positives,' he thought, refocusing again.

'Must find the positives.'

Leo obviously hadn't learnt how to add music to his slides or switch on the speakers, as there would have been some frightful soundtrack alongside it he decided. That wasn't entirely comforting, but it was positive and the best he could do so far. He dreaded to think what the song would have been: "It had to by you?", "Some enchanted evening?" One of those songs from Lion King, that Leo hummed relentlessly that time they were in Africa together, there was one of those about love he was sure.

'Love' the word left a trail through his thoughts like a smoke ring, definitely there for an instant but vanishing or being banished as quickly as it came.

'OK' he said to himself, that was one good thing. The students, they had seemed to enjoy it, and he had been able to get the information across, so maybe that was two.

So that left his embarrassment. He would certainly avoid Leo for the rest of the day. It would be hard to be civil with all the adrenaline still pumping, but maybe tomorrow, or next week he'd be able to see the funny side and they'd be able to get back to normal, go for a drink even, apologise properly and clear the air.

Then there was Nikki. If Leo's aim had been to give Harry his share of humiliation in retaliation for their stupid week of fighting; that was one thing but to inflict it on Nikki as well. That was galling.

Maybe Leo hadn't expected her to be there. She had gone to Essex and served her sentence but to return to this! A whole new intake of students that whenever they saw her on campus would look and remember those images. Remember the time that Dr Cunningham had referred to her as 'an old thing,' or make snide comments whenever they saw her holding a stack of files, or just make the anthropology unit oversubscribed by testosterone fuelled adolescents with no love of human history whatsoever. It wasn't fair and he couldn't think of a way to make it right.

And he'd been so close, so close this week to letting go. He'd been staring at that door for so long now, but this week, just this week he'd almost convinced himself that he could give it a nudge. Face the monsters on the other side. He couldn't help but believe there was something more, his mind wandered back to that Cure song he'd found:

"For a second of your life

Tell me if it's true

Anywhere beyond

It's all I want of you

On your lips lies a secret

"the promise of a kiss"

...or something more than this? "

He'd been fantasizing about that kiss for a week; but now to see it played out on the big screen. Well Leo had ruined that for him. He just never seemed to get a break. He imagined hearing a loud clang, like on the films when all the doors in a prison shut at once. 'Not very positive,' he chided himself.

Positive, positive.

If she'd had any sense she would have left long before the end, wouldn't she? Maybe she hadn't seen the last bit at all? But then he didn't remember hearing the door open. He flicked his eyes up to the back of the auditorium where she had been sitting.

There were still one or two students by the back door waiting to sign the register on the way out and just to their left one seat that hadn't been vacated. The occupant was sitting straight up in the seat, seemingly frozen in place and still staring at the screen.

Not only had Nikki not left early.

She was still there.

He tried a small finger wave but there was no response.

Ready or not he would have to do something.

* * *

><p><strong>The song's fantastic, called More Than This by The Cure, originally used on X files first movie soundtrack, hence why it fits H&amp;N so perfectly.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

As he climbed the steps of the auditorium his heart seemed to get heavier and heavier. She'd been sat right near the door which meant that every student would have passed by her and recognised her as they exited the lecture hall. Nothing he was going to say was going to soothe her humiliation. He rehearsed some of the possibilities:

"I'm sorry, those weren't my slides."

"I'm sorry Leo, changed my presentation."

"I really wish you hadn't had to see that."

"I'm sorry for calling you old,"

"Leo, was holding the remote control."

None really seemed to get across any of the things he wanted to tell her, and as he got closer, his heart sank further as he saw the tell-tale signs of tears on her face. She'd not even bothered to hide them, like she usually did. He got to the end of the row and looked at her; her face still resolutely turned to the screen which still had the enormous image of her kissing him, emblazoned across it.

"I'm so sorry," Harry began. The list was so long he didn't really know where to start. So he just sat silently in the seat next to her. His long legs only just fitted behind the chair in front causing his knee to make contact with hers.

Seemingly startled by the contact Nikki turned wordlessly to look at him.

"I didn… that wasn'…. I…" Harry stumbled and despite the hurt radiating from her eyes, she looked into his face. He saw her sigh, blink and when her eyes reopened, he saw the hurt replaced with something else he dared to hope was forgiveness or maybe just understanding.

"Leo," she breathed and went back to staring at the screen.

"Leo," he confirmed.

Silently Harry reached his hand over the arm rest and took her hand in his, stroking her fingers with his thumb, he mumbled.

"I missed you."

They continued to sit in silence, but Harry could see the tears dripping off her cheeks as she stared straight ahead.

The sudden click of computer as it sprang to life and chugged back to the opening slide made them both jump.

"Is that what we've done?" asked Nikki, breaking the new silence and making Harry jump more than the computer had.

He stopped stroking her hand and sat completely still trying to work out what her question was really about. He'd enjoyed a whole week of writing to her, and not having to triple guess where her mind had suddenly taken her, as her conversations jumped this way and that as every new thought of hers tumbled out of her mouth. But here right next to her, hand in hand he was stuck.

He looked to the screen for inspiration and there at the bottom was his motto.

'Why let good times go bad?'

He nodded his head towards the screen, trying to make it clear that he was referring to the 'good times go bad' slogan.

I don't think so, I really hope not. I am so sorry Nikki. I'm sorry I lose my temper with you. I don't know why I can't seem to help it when we argue. I'm just so sorry. Those pictures, those pictures are terrifying Nikki, I don't like what I become. I don't want to fight with you. I wish I didn't fight with you."

Nikki remained silent, but Harry noted with relief that her tears seemed to have stopped. He squeezed her hand consolingly.

"And we've had a good week this week haven't we? I really enjoyed your emails, it all seemed more straight forward somehow. Maybe next time we think we're going to fall out we should mandate email only communication between us?"

Nikki gave an audible huff, it wasn't a laugh by a long way, but it was a step on the journey.

"That's not what I mean," she stated.

Harry turned towards her; "I don't understand..." he said.

"Is that what I've done?" Nikki asked more vehemently. "I've made it all go bad, I should never have done it."

"Done what Nikki?" Harry asked. "I'm as much to blame for our fight over the Symonds case as anyone. We have too much at stake to let one fight ruin what we have. And we haven't ruined it; this week has been good hasn't it. We're good aren't we? You and me?"

"That's not what I mean, Harry," Nikki said quietly. "I don't mind fighting with you, I wouldn't say I enjoy it, and we both have a temper we've known that for years. And I do enjoy the reconciliations," she kissed the back of his hand that was still holding hers to emphasize her point.

"It's not the fighting I'm afraid will ruin us," she whispered.

Harry sat still, his brain processing and clarifying all she had said. If it wasn't the fighting that was ruining something good, then the only alternative was the kissing.

"I'm not sure kissing you could ever be called bad," Harry said carefully and hesitantly. The amount of humiliation he had suffered today, heading down this road suddenly seemed safe in comparison.

"It didn't work for us so well before." Nikki shot back, a flicker of hurt and humiliation back in her own eyes.

"Oh Nikki!" sighed Harry. "You're right, I'm sorry the timing was bad for both of us…" he broke off unsure of how to continue.

"You didn't want to see me on Saturday," Nikki muttered.

Harry closed his eyes, how had he been so blind.

"That was a date?" he asked incredulously.

She didn't reply, but he caught her eye, and saw all the disappointment and fear there, the same fear that had held him in the waiting room all these years. Well he was nearly forty; it was time he stopped believing in monsters.

"Nikki. I want more, more than this," he shook their intertwined hands. "I'm too old to be scared anymore, I can't lose any more face, not after today. And I can't be worried that moving things forward between us would lose the best friendship I've ever had because to not do anything would risk losing even more."

He tried to see how his little speech had gone down, but she still had her face turned slightly away from him.

"You think we can have more? More than this?" she asked. Her eyes wide and expectant.

"It's what I want, Nikki. And I've known it for a while now. But what do you want?" he murmured.

Harry thought his heart had stopped beating entirely in the space of time it took her to answer. One moment, two, three and then quietly but resolutely the answer came.

"You," she said simply. "I want you."


	14. Chapter 14

They walked back to Leo's office arm in arm. A couple of students gave them coy waves and then dissolved into giggles the moment they passed.

"You do realise," Nikki said seriously. "That your seminar is probably being uploaded to YouTube as we speak. You'll be viral by 5:30."

"Really?" Harry asked incredulous. "No one is actually going to voluntarily watch an orientation lecture that's not even theirs, are they?"

"I did," she stated simply and then "Harry people watch fat teenagers pretending a broomstick is a light saber, stewards rapping the safety information on planes and singing cats, you're going to be an overnight sensation," she laughed.

"Please, no!" Harry pleaded, but to whom Nikki wasn't sure.

"Dinner tonight?" Harry asked as they entered the Lyell Centre.

"Hmm, sounds good," Nikki agreed.

"Shall I pick you up, or do you want to go straight from here?"

"Come round 7:30ish,"

"7:30," Harry agreed.

Their mood changed rapidly when they entered Leo's office. Leo was sat at his desk, his head in his hands visibly shaking and when he looked up as they entered his face was whiter than his hair.

"Leo? Are you alright?" Harry asked all traces of his anger evaporating as he ran to his friend's side.

"What's happened? Are you ill? Is Janet ok? Can you feel your left hand?"

"What have I done? What have I done?" Leo moaned.

"Leo, what is the matter?" Harry asked again trying to instil some calm into his voice.

Leo just continued to stare at them.

"Leo, really what is the matter?" Nikki called.

"Is it the Senior Management? You've not got in trouble for your little stunt have you? I'll claim you didn't do anything, Leo, that the slides were all mine, they can't do anything to you." Harry rattled off.

"No, it's not that, it's it's…."

"What?" chorused Harry and Nikki.

"It's the Symonds case. There's new evidence. The police have reopened the investigation," Leo pronounced and promptly put his head back in his hands to avoid seeing their reaction.

"The Symonds case!" they both chorused again. "What new evidence?"

"There's been another body," Leo began.

He heard them both gasp and look at each other before he continued:

"You've got another seminar to give at 1:30, Harry. I shall have to send Nikki out to the scene. Here's the things you need," and he tossed Harry his original memory stick and remote control. What have I done?" Leo moaned again.

"Another body?" asked Nikki. "So the chances of this being an accidental fall…"

"I told you s…." began Harry.

"Don't!" screamed Leo. "Don't even start! Today of all days, I can't believe it."

Nikki turned to Harry, a broad smile on her face.

"Oh Harry, the make-up sex is going to be fantastic!" she declared, causing Harry to blush scarlet and Leo to at least gain some colour. And with that she reached up, kissed Harry on the lips and swept from the room; leaving them both to stare open mouthed at her, as she gathered up her things from his desk, blew them both a kiss and left the room.

"Who ever said she could stay?" Harry asked.

"I did," smiled Leo.

"Good decision," replied Harry.

"I heard that!" came the sound of Nikki's voice from the corridor, followed by a loud laugh and "7:30!"

"7:30!" Harry confirmed loudly and wondered if his own smile was anywhere near as broad as Leo's.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed, I had fun writing this one. I'm going to be home alone (well with the kids) for a few months so hopefully will be able to do a new story, but I shall warn you now it's likely to be more angsty… I know it is said all the time, but reviews are magic, even if it just says 'thanks.' Go on give it a whirl.<strong>


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